I have the venue 8 Pro 64 GB version.  I have an OTG cable and have hooked up to a wireless mouse where I plugged in my USB dongle to the OTG cable and the mouse worked perfectly.  Then have a wireless Bluetooth keyboard hooked up at the same time and it works perfect.  Since I dont have a USB hub right now, I disconnected the mouse, and using a USB 2.0 UGA Video display adapter, was able to flawlessly hook up to my Best Buy TV, and also a ViewSonic external monitor.  The Adapter comes from Plugable.  Go to their website and they have docks and everything you need to make it happen.  Even a Youtube video online showing them hooking up to 4 external monitors from the Venue 8.  The problem is that you cant charge the Venue 8 at the same time you have these other things hooked up.  I have not tried my external hard drive, but you should not have any problems with that either.  Hope this is the info you needed.  Venue 8 is a beast of a tablet.  Absolutely love it.

This cable http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C2HIJDO/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 allows me to connect to and /read a typical USB flash drive with my V8P.  I found the cable through a Dell forum post, of which there are numerous.  The micro-USB charging port is dual purpose, charging and connecting an external drive, although not both at once.  I also can use the adapter to connect to my http://www.amazon.com/Brunton-Inspire-Portable-Power/dp/B002RB6E6O/ref=sr_1_3?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1386867416&sr=1-3&keywords=brunton+charger for an emergency charge.

As far as I can tell, it is a fully supported host USB port.  I have used it with a card reader with a SD and a Micro SD card, and it found them, and loaded up the folders containing the images once I went into Gallery, and it showed the matrix of images.  It wasn't quite as fast as placing the Micro SD card directly into the tablet slot, but it was still pretty impressive.  I had many hundreds of images (between 2 and 6 GB each) in three different folders, taken with three different cameras (a 6 MP, a 10 MP and a 12 MP) all were shot at highest JPEG setting.  The transfers weren't immediate, but unlike a slower tablet I have, it didn't take 20 minutes either.  I could pretty much start reviewing them full size after 3-4 minutes, but there were a LOT of images (it was a nearly full 32 GB card).

I have not tried a USB flash drive or other peripherals yet, but I suspect they should work.  Obviously, you need to use a USB OTG cable which goes form the micro USB connector on the tablet to a full size USB female on the other end, so you can plug things into it.  Dell doesn't supply the cable with the tablet, but I see them for as little $1 on line.  Just make sure it is a OTG cable with 4 internal contacts. 

I am looking for one such cable too. The Amazon link another poster put in says it is a 5 pin, you are saying it should be a 4 pin. Which one works.

Also, can this USB Female port be somehow used to connect a USB to HDMI cable (if there is one such thing, as HDMI sends audio as well as video on one cable, I doubt USB can do that).

I found this on Amazon.ca

http://www.amazon.ca/Micro-USB-to-HDMI-Adapter/dp/B005YW1LZM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1388061612&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+to+hdmi+adapter

I have a standard otg cable and use this to connect from usb female,  to any of the monitor inputs.   It allows for usb to hdmi,  vgi and vga as it comes with several adapters.  It works beautifully.   I highly recommend Plugable as a company too.   Not sure how they compare price wise,  but customer service is very responsive.   I have a usb charging dock and both products are good quality.  Here is the link  http://plugable.com/products/UGA-165

On a related note, I can't get the vp8 to recognize a wd passport ultra external hdd.  The drive keeps making a sound like its starting then stops and starts over.   The drivebworks fine on other systems with win 7 and 8.1, just not the vp8.  the vp8 does work with a sd card.

Are external hdds supported?

In terms of the using USB 2.0 devices, you need a standard OTG micro USB to female USB 2.0 cable.  On the same page you provided the link to, I saw an OTG USB host cable for $1.40.  The confusion regarding the number of pins is the Micro USB side has 5 pins, and the female USB 2.0 (full size USB) has 4 pins plus, I suppose, the ground from the perimeter.

In regard to HDMI, I haven't personally checked it, but I know many hosting micro USB connectors from tablets can be configured to HDMI with the use of a standard conversion cable.  I would assume that it carries both the video and audio signals, however, I have encountered a few conversion cables which require the audio to be cabled separately. I do not know for sure how this particular USB port.

Most external USB hard drives cannot draw enough power from the micro USB port of a tablet.  Some portable exterrnal drives have the ability to add a separate power source

The Pluggable adaptor at $60 bucks is quite expensive.

Why does Dell not comment if this tablets USB port supports MHL standard. Then we could use a cheap adaptor like this.

http://ca.cellphoneshop.net/mhlhdmi.html?gclid=CISH6_Gv2LsCFfBcMgodKBYADA

I also want to know if this table supports DLNA as I don't see a way to beam the video and photos wirelessly to a SmartTV connected to the same Wifi Network. Had to use a third party app like Zappo to do it vs my Samsung Galaxy S3 Smartphone which does not need any additional apps.

Problem is, everyone mixes up remarks about the Venue 8, and the Venue 8 PRO. They are completely different. Venue 8 is an Android tablet, while pro seems to be Windows only.

MHL adapters don't work, I've tried. I'm going to buy an OTG adapter and see if this will work to connect to HDMI.

It's unfortunate that Dell sells this tablet by using a photo of it next to a large monitor or TV, making it seem like, "Hey, this tablet will sync up to a TV!" When I called tech support they told me that it only works as a charge port, not for video, but I'm going to give it a try on Amazon, since this is what I bought this tablet for!